Cinco de Mayo lands on Tuesday this year, and Tuesday is a workday. [1] The hour after the school pickup is not when birria gets made; the hour after Sunday lunch is.

Birria takes the slow-cooker route well. Toast guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chiles in a dry pan; soak them in hot stock; blend with onion, garlic, vinegar, oregano, cumin, and cloves; pour over chuck roast; cook on low overnight. [2] Sunday night the meat shreds; Monday morning the consommé chills and the fat lifts off in a single sheet. Tuesday the meat reheats in its own broth, the tortillas dip and griddle, and the table is six minutes from sitting down. [2]

Mole is even friendlier to the calendar. Most jarred mole pastes are honest about what they are; thin them with stock, simmer fifteen minutes, fold in shredded chicken from a Sunday roast, and the dish is Tuesday's main and Wednesday's enchilada. [1] Elote is the night-of move — cooked corn, mayonnaise, cotija, lime, chili powder, cilantro — but the cotija crumbles and the chili-lime salt mix on Sunday and live in jars until Tuesday. [1]

Sopapillas and churros are the children's job; the dough rests in the refrigerator overnight and fries in three minutes. The make-ahead salsa — roasted tomato, charred jalapeño, lime, salt — takes twenty minutes Sunday and is better Tuesday. [2] What does not survive a 48-hour rest is guacamole; mash it twenty minutes before the table.

The Sunday afternoon cook is not labor. It is the difference between a Tuesday that arrives like a holiday and one that arrives like a Tuesday.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles